Hackers jailbreak new iPad hours after it hits the shelves

Video Hardware enthusiasts managed to find multiple different ways to jailbreak the new iPad over the weekend, hours after the release of Apple's latest fondleslab.

Hackers were quickly able to develop custom code that allowed them to escape Apple's walled garden and install unapproved apps on the new iPad with iOS 5.1.

Three different groups developed methods for jailbreaking the new iPad. None of these methods have yet been packaged into point-and-click tools just yet, but the apparent ease with which three different approaches to jailbreaking were developed means that utilities to automate the process are likely to arrive sooner rather than later.

Hacker MuscleNerd of "iPhone Dev-Team" posted photos showing the new iPad running the Cydia Store for jailbroken devices and a terminal app as proof of his hack.

Stefan Esser (i0n1c) posted a video illustrating an untethered jailbreak on the new iPad. Lastly hackers Grant Paul (chpwn) and Paul Griffin (phoenixdev) teamed up to develop code to jailbreak the third-generation fondleslab.

All three groups posted evidence that they had pulled off a jailbreak but omitted explanations of the techniques used, which will probably come later.

However the Dev-Team blog reports that MuscleNerd discovered that a jailbreak developed for iPad 2 four months ago still works, even in iOS 5.1. This is an important step that allows hackers to get their "foot in the door to get the required kernel dumps on the iPad3", clearing a key hurdle in the jailbreaking process.

More discussion and a round-up of the relevant links can be found in a blog post by Dev-Team here. ®